Featuring Shannon Morales of Echo Me Forward and Stealth.ify
Shannon Morales was raised by her mother and grandmother in Northern New Jersey. She is the child of an African American and Colombian mom and dad and is also a first-generation college graduate. Shannon graduated from William Paterson with her bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Finance and is currently pursuing her MBA in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the LeBow College of Business, Drexel University.
Shannon is also a single mother with three young daughters. As a biracial person, a woman, and a single mom, she has experienced more than her share of discrimination. Navigating a career in finance after graduating from Paterson was particularly challenging; she immediately despaired at her inability to find equal access to opportunities in the workforce. At one job, she was actively discriminated against. This was a turning point in her career trajectory: she realized that she would never have the same access to opportunities as her white colleagues and if she was to get ahead, she would need to create her own opportunities. Shannon decided to become a social entrepreneur and to work on building a business that would level the playing field for minority professionals such as herself.
Echo Me Forward became that business. Echo Me Forward is a software tool that enables employers to find and hire diverse tech talent. It targets industries that lack minority representation and gives companies the tools they need to change the disparaging racial inequity of their workforce. It also provides digital content, connects professionals with career opportunities, hosts networking events, provides career coaching, soft skills training, and mentorship to ensure that minority professionals have the tools they need to succeed.
When the pandemic began, Shannon recognized another challenge facing minority, urban communities – minorities were dying from COVID-19 at an alarmingly higher rate than whites. Shannon again saw an uneven playing field and decided to embark on developing a software tool that would provide healthcare and best practices information as well as real-time geo-physical risk assessment information. She calls this app Stealth.ify.
Describe your pre-pandemic business model.
Pre-pandemic, I was focused on my business venture Echo Me Forward – a recruiting and employer branding tool that connects diverse talent to equitable workplaces. The platform modernizes traditional employer recruiting sites, such as ZipRecruiter, by looking ahead to the future of work and taking into account the rise of remote work and an employee’s desire for career development opportunities, diversity and inclusion, equitable pay, and sustainability initiatives.
How has your business pivoted?
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, I decided to launch a new web app, Stealth.ify, that tracks the spread of COVID-19, while incentivizing social distancing. The name Stealth.ify is derived from a video game feature that allows players to use the stealth mode to avoid dangerous areas. Then Google and Apple announced that they were coming out with a similar app; I felt discouraged and knew that I could not compete with these two big tech companies. But then, I started to look at things from a whole new perspective: I wasn’t creating a widespread government solution, I was creating a local, community solution – one that took into account how moms, dads, grocery store workers, and others could use public information to keep their families safe. I went from focusing on a larger market to focusing on smaller, urban communities that lacked resources and awareness tools. By shifting my focus, I was able to stay true to myself and to my social entrepreneurship mission of lifting-up vulnerable, minority populations.
How important is “thinking outside the box” to the survival/growth of your business?
Being continuously innovative is key to the survival of all businesses, especially during times like these that force us to take a step back and to truly evaluate our business models. Companies like Uber and Facebook are always “thinking outside the box” by expanding their product lines to stay relevant. The key to a sustainable business is to “innovate constantly and innovate fast”.
How specifically are you “thinking outside the box”?
As a business strategist at heart, I love finding innovative new ways to solve a problem. The idea of having a Covid-19 tracker was not new, but the idea to gamify it and incentivize people to stay away from high risk areas was. People inherently don’t like being told what to do. It’s this mentality that made me re-think how to go about creating a solution for social distancing. Stealth.ify will continue to pivot to adapt to the market at least a few times during this pandemic. For example, we are currently looking at an employer solution that would create social distancing features inside businesses post-pandemic.
Discuss the importance of resiliency and flexibility.
I fell into entrepreneurship because my former employers could not see my vision for process improvement within their businesses. It was tough trying to express myself through work and being limited by myopic viewpoints. However, with each closed door, I built a resilience towards difficult situations. Resilience builds character and being flexible is necessary when going into business for yourself. Don’t get me wrong – I still receive a lot of push back and no’s, but the beauty of it now is that it is on my own terms. Sometimes creating your own path is the only way you will be heard.
How are you connecting with your peers?
I connect with peers through zoom and google meets. Since the launch of Stealth.ify, my life has been pretty much an all-day zoom meeting. I’m sure others can relate!
How do you imagine your business will look post pandemic?
Post-pandemic Stealth.ify will branch-off and become a B2B solution for employers to help their employees’ social distance. We also plan to keep our core functions for local communities that include access to healthcare resources, vaccine locations, and a telemedicine component. We want to be a reliable platform that gives local communities access to trustworthy health information both locally and globally.
To learn more about Shannon’s business ventures, visit:
https://www.instagram.com/stealth.ify/
https://www.instagram.com/echomeforward/
The Ladies who Launch 